When I Were a Lad Book

Ah the past. A time when children could play in the snow without a helmet crampons and a risk assessment report. When footballs were made from rhino hide and cricket was played with one pad if you were lucky. "When I Were a Lad"...looks at the glorious - yet - risky childhoods of yesteryear before the Health and Safety officers told us we couldn't do everything because it was too dangerous. It reflects on a time when children were allowed in with the animals at London Zoo; a time before the car seatbelt was invented (let alone used); a time when you were allowed to dress up endangered species in goalkeeping kit and take penalties against them. The authors have trawled through the major historic archives to find some glorious photo opportunities where the safety angle of the participants was the last thing anyone thought of. Children perch happily on lethal limbmangling machinery stand all-smiles on live crocodiles feed brown bears with their hands and get scooped from the street by passing tram conductors. In one photo they happily pose on recovered artillery shells. ;